Get past the challenge of carving out a spot in your busy schedule for workouts, finding a decent-fitting pair of running shorts and learning how a few dynamic stretches will improve your mile times and you're left with one task in training for your first 5K.

You have to fuel your newly exercising body.

Sure, a 5K -- a mere 3.1 miles -- is not an ultra-marathon, or even a 10K, but what you eat does matter. And if you're going to ask your legs to do more than park under your desk at the office all day, you need to give them some juice. (Just not a sports drink. You don't need that unless you're doing more than an hour of hard athletic activity, experts say.)

"You want to have the energy to fuel that run. Otherwise, without that energy, you get fatigued quicker, and you really can't train as well," says Nina Marinello, who coordinates nutrition education for the University at Albany's department of athletics. "You're really not training to your optimum potential."

Eating can sometimes be challenging for people preparing for their first race with early morning training runs, Marinello says. Runners can't be expected to chow down on pancakes at 5 a.m. and then hit the trails an hour later while flapjacks do flips in their stomachs.

Eating well for the early run starts with a lesson in your body's fuel tanks.

"What fuels a runner, basically, are carbohydrates, and the carbohydrates that we've eaten most recently increase our blood sugar, so that's what the body uses right away," Marinello says. "Then (it taps into) stored carbohydrates -- glycogen -- in the muscles. Stored glycogen comes from what you ate hours or the day before."

That morning meal doesn't have to be large, she says, and should ideally be eaten an hour before a run. Half an English muffin or a banana with a little peanut butter and half a glass of orange juice can be enough to get you going.

Runners may have to experiment with different foods to see what sits well on the track, road or running trail. Instant oatmeal with a bit of peanut butter and/or jelly mixed in may work for one runner while pudding -- a tasty mix of sugar and protein -- works better for another.

And make sure to stay hydrated throughout the day, which will translate into a better run. Marinello says she counsels athletes to take dark urine as a sign they're not getting enough water.

Can't stomach anything before 7 a.m.?

"Worse comes to worse -- for someone who's running and has those extra couple hundred calories that (they) can afford, save them before (they) go to bed and have a bowl of oatmeal with milk or whole-grain cereal with fruit or yogurt," Marinello says. That late-night snack will allow your body to build up its glycogen reserves for the morning.

Then, she says, be sure to eat as soon as you can after your run. Your muscles will be like dried sponges, depleted of their glycogen stores and primed to soak up more.

Runners might not feel like eating a full meal, but a protein-carbohydrate combination is just what the body needs to rebuild. Marinello suggests a small peanut butter sandwich, cereal and milk, trail mix, yogurt, low-fat chocolate milk or even a healthy broth-based soup with beans.

Recovery foods are also important to consider when you're in a running routine, Kara Goucher, noted Olympic distance runner, writes in her new book, "Running for Women: From First Steps to Marathons."

As healthy as it is, running also taxes the body. What you're eating can help ease muscle aches that come with inflammation.

"Keep away from spicy food the day before and morning of your race," she writes. "They, along with your nervous stomach, can bring on gastric upset. It's smart to avoid them even if you've tried the foods before."

And those training for a 5K with weight loss in mind need to be careful of one major potential pitfall leading up to race day: Your training may not be burning as many calories as you think, while your appetite may increase. If your intake and output are out of balance, you could end up crossing your first 5K finish line heavier than you were in your couch-sitting days, Marinello says.

"Just because you ran and worked out, you don't want to zoom by a Dunkin' Donuts," she says. "As you feel better, your appetite increases, the best thing is to satisfy it with fruits and vegetables. You can never go wrong."

And those foods are just the fuel you need to cross the finish line on race day.

-- There's still time to join the Freihofer's Training Challenge, a program meant to help new runners work up from walking to racing. One of the training teams is lead by Times Union feature writer and sports columnist Jennifer Gish. Visit http://timesunion.com/sports for details on how to join Gish's team. Registration for the challenge is open until April 11.